Hark! the herald angels singGlory to the newborn King;Peace on earth and mercy mild,God and sinners reconciled:Joyful all ye nations rise,Join the triumph of the skies,With the angelic host proclaim,Christ is born in Bethlehem:Hark! the herald angels singGlory to the newborn King.

Christ, by highest heaven adored,Christ, the everlasting Lord,Late in time behold him come,Offspring of a virgin's womb!Veiled in flesh the Godhead see,Hail the incarnate Deity!Pleased as man with men to dwell,Jesus, our Emmanuel:Hark! the herald angels singGlory to the newborn King.

Hail the heaven-born Prince of Peace!Hail the Sun of Righteousness!Light and life to all he brings,Risen with healing in his wings;Mild, he lays his glory by,Born that man no more may die,Born to raise the sons of earth,Born to give them second birth:Hark! the herald angels singGlory to the newborn King.

Words: Charles Wesley (1707-88), George Whitfield (1714-70),

Martin Madan (1726-90) and William Hayman Cummings (1831-1915) Music: Mendelssohn, from a chorus by Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy (1809-47), adapted by William Hayman Cummings

The carol we now know as "Hark! the herald angels sing" did not start life as such, and required at least four people to bring it to its current form. Wesley's original, written as a Christmas Day hymn and first published in 1739, is made up of ten four-line verses, rather than the longer eight-line verses with refrain which we have now.

It is interesting to note that in the original version of Wesley's, the heavens ring with the phrase "Glory to the King of kings," echoing Luke's "Glory to God in the highest heaven."

George Whitfield, who had been a student with Wesley, changed this to "Glory to the newborn King" in 1753. His fairly revolutionary Calvinist position was not compatible with Wesley's gentler reforming approach, which eventually bore fruit in the Methodist movement that he and his brother John inspired, Whitfield maintained the four-line verses of Wesley's original, but changed the angels' emphasis: "Glory to the newborn King" means something slightly but significantly different from "Glory to the King of kings." In the Gospel account, the angels praise God, whereas in "Hark! the herald angels sing," they are inaccurately described as praising Jesus. Furthermore, Luke does not say that the angels "sing," and so it may well be that this reinterpretation by Whitfield has emphasized the popular but unscriptural picture of angels singing the Gloria. ("While shepherds watched" also implies that they sang.)

Whitfield also cut the final verses, which are now largely forgotten:

Come, desire of nations, come,Fix in us thy humble home;Rise, the woman's conquering seed,Bruise in us the serpent's head.

Now display thy saving power,Ruin'd nature now restore;Now in mystic union joinThine to ours, and ours to thine.

Adam's likeness, Lord, efface,Stamp thy image in its place.Second Adam from above,Reinstate us in thy love.

Let us thee, though lost, regain,Thee, the life, the inner man:O, to all thyself impart,Form'd in each believing heart.

There is some real theological insight in these neglected verses. First of all we notice the Advent antiphon "Come, desire of nations, come," followed by a reference to the Fall, with the serpent bruising the heel of humanity and Adam bruising its head (Genesis 3:15). Wesley cleverly alters the meaning, asking that the serpent in us (sin) should be bruised (defeated) by Christ, the second Adam, who reinstates us as beloved sons and daughters of God. In the restoration of sinful humanity to a state of grace through the incarnation of Christ, the joining of divine and human nature is also achieved. Consequently, that which was lost (salvation) is gained and a new life is granted to all believers.

The tune we now call Mendelssohn comes from the second chorus, "Gott ist Light" ("God is Light"). While there can be no doubt that the marriage of Mendelssohn's tune and the adapted words has been most fortuitous, it is rather ironic that Mendelssohn, while recognizing the value of his tune, felt that it would be unsuitable for sacred words. Similarly, Wesley, when writing the original text, suggested that a slow, solemn tune would fit them best. He refused to sing Whitfield's reworking of his words, furious that he had presumed to alter them to suit his own ends. Nowadays, there would probably be an outcry if someone were to suggest even slight changes, and some attempts to "inclusivize" the language have been coolly received.

"Hark! the herald angels sing" has become part of the institution of Christmas, and while it contains inaccuracies, it also sounds out some wonderful theology, musically reminding us that Jesus, the "newborn King," is "Prince of Peace," "Sun of Righteousness," "Everlasting Lord," "Incarnate Deity," and, best of all, "Emmanuel" — "God with us." Whatever its creators would have thought about the hymn as it currently stands, it endures as a reminder of the great gift that our Father God has given us in his Son Jesus Christ, and which we will celebrate in only a few hours' time.

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Tri-Unity: The Biblical Doctrine of God. by Michael A. G. Haykin

What do Mormons, Jehovah's Witnesses, Oneness Pentecostals and a host of other theological cults all have in common? A tacit denial of the Biblical doctrine of the Trinity. And what may be worse is the Christian Church is culpable in causing the further proliferation of this denial. The Biblical and historical doctrine of the Trinity receives very little attention in our modern Church age. In fact, many Christians, when pressed to define the term, employ confusing language at best or historically recognized heretical terms at worst. It has not always been this way. The early church believed that a wrong view of God would, of necessity, lead to a wrong view of the Gospel. Therefore, false views could not, they reasoned, if we love God and His people, be allowed to go unchallenged. Dr. Haykin will take the student on a journey through the Bible and the history of the early Church explaining how and why the doctrine of the Trinity is essential in order to have a proper view of God and to give one the tools for an orthodox world and life view.

Catalyst: Covers both church leadership issues and cultural issues through interviewing Christian leaders, authors, pastors, etc. I really enjoy the Catalyst podcast, though I find myself skipping the first several minutes of pre-interview conversation about Catalyst Conference stuff and other random bits. The interview is the meat, and it's consistently thoughtful and engaging.

Church Leader Insights: Pastors Nelson Searcy and Kerrick Thomas of The Journey Church in NYC talking together about church leadership, church growth, church planting, systems, evangelism, etc. A lot of info of what has and hasn't worked for them. I always come away with insights for pastoring and ministry, even if you don't approach ministry in quite the same way as these guys.

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National New Church Conference: Interviews with conference speakers dealing with church and church planting. Have learned a lot from this podcast and highly recommend it for church leaders.

Practically Speaking: North Point boys (Andy Stanley, et al) on the Seven Practices of Effective Ministry. It's a "dead" podcast in that there are no new episodes, but their seven podcasts I have found very helpful as a pastor. I've listened to them more than once, and will listen again.

Resurgence: Mark Driscoll's missional resource that includes talks from various conferences and lectures pertaining to ministry and theology. Lots of good stuff here.

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Capitol Hill Baptist: Pastor Mark Dever is one of the most important living Southern Baptist pastors/preachers, and a pastor who I have had a chance to talk with a bit. He has seen a remarkable change over the years of his church in D.C. Dever is obsessively expository in his approach. If you want to know the Bible, this is a great way to digest it. Dever is also well known for tackling very large sections of text, including single sermons on entire books of the Bible.

Cornerstone Simi: Pastor Francis Chan is fairly new on my radar, but I have enjoyed what I have heard so far.

The Journey - St. Louis: Pastor Darrin Patrick is a friend and has seen some great things happen after planting in St. Louis. A good preacher, and a young leader worth watching.

Mars Hill Church, Grand Rapids: Pastor Rob Bell is a controversial writer and speaker in the emerging church movement. I find him very engaging and biblical, though we would surely differ at points. He challenges me with living the Gospel.

Mars Hill Church, Seattle: Pastor Mark Driscoll is a different sort of controversial writer and speaker in the emerging church movement. He has been very influential in my ministry and life.

Village Church: Pastor Matt Chandler is SBC, Acts 29, and one of the best young preachers I've heard. Probably my favorite younger preacher to listen to over the last few months. Some people trip over a few of his stylistic traits at first, but please persist and you will find so much worth hearing.

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Unless otherwise indicated, all scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, copyright 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.